Unintended Consequences

[El Tejon]

Drew, I bought my copy at the Knob Creek shoot and read it on the firing line. I don't think it is in $200 condition.

OTOH, I wonder how much Kentuc clay and gun soot and oil adds to the value?

 

[Husker1911]

Read it, loved it, loaned it to a friend, haven't seen it since. Damn, I will purchase another copy!

 

[azredhawk44]

Yup, I loved it as well as Atlas Shrugged and Enemies Foreign and Domestic.

Mr. Ross... is there a sequel coming out? Your first book was fantastic and every bit a true american classic... it has a place in my mind well above EFaD and alongside Atlas Shrugged. It has the potential to become "coursework material" for either High School or College civics classes much like Howard Fast's April Morning is for Junior High.

 

[NoirFan]

I think you are on the wrong forum, that's mainly what goes on here

Yeah, but multiple paragraphs of description is acceptable and helpful on a gun forum, especially when I have a specific technical question about this-or-that firearm. Those same descriptions are not fun to read in a novel. It’s better to have a succinct description which lets me fill in the blanks and which leaves the writer free to concentrate on more important things, like pacing and character development.

But hey, it seems like the author has found a niche that sells. More power to him.

What I didn't care for were a few of the narrative tangents he kept going off on, particularly the rather graphic sexual material.

Yeah seriously. That scene where the hero stops a rape-in-progress with his .44 magnum? What the hell?

 

[The-Fly]

Excellent book. I've found that getting non gunnies to read it is a GREAT way to educate them about our way of life.

 

[RancidSumo]

Read it several times. Given several copies to friends. Glad you enjoyed it. Now go read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.

I don't currently have a copy of UC but I have been meaning to pick up a copy of it and the Enemies series (neither of the local book stores sell either and the library doesn't have them) I do however have a copy of Atlas Shrugged. I read the first ~80 pages and then switched over to The Stand. I am not really even sure what Atlas Shrugged is about and I don't know why I bought it, I was just strangly drawn to it and bought it. Could someone please tell me what it is about without giving anything away? I was trying to read it but wasn't sure if the whole thing was just going to be 1000 pages about the problems of a railroad and steel company so I put it down for a while. Mabey that was a mistake...

 

[MaterDei]

I read it. I liked the first half which was full of interesting history but it devolved into a smutty action thriller in the second half.

It's like the first half was written by a university professor and the second by the boys from animal house.

 

[azredhawk44]

I do however have a copy of Atlas Shrugged. I read the first ~80 pages and then switched over to The Stand. I am not really even sure what Atlas Shrugged is about and I don't know why I bought it, I was just strangly drawn to it and bought it. Could someone please tell me what it is about without giving anything away? I was trying to read it but wasn't sure if the whole thing was just going to be 1000 pages about the problems of a railroad and steel company so I put it down for a while. Mabey that was a mistake...

Without giving anything away:

The entry of the book lays the groundwork for how the world works. Businesses run inside of governmental regulation. The regulation gets more onerous, and the rules for establishing the regulation are preposterous.

Atlas is about a group of people dedicated to allowing Man to advance via his rational mind rather than decline by means of superstitious ignorance.

It's about 300 pages of exposition though... and there's about a 100 page monologue towards the end. Very good reading and excellent existentialist philosophy, but it ain't thrilling in a car-chase-gun-fight kinda way.

 

[ravencon]

Book desperately needed a hands on editor. However, it contains a lot of useful material intermixed with the endless mediocre verbiage.

 

[dcal]

Just received it in the mail yesterday. It's a big 'un... Looking forward to getting started.

 

[Dysfunctional Individual]

I did find the first, "historical" part somewhat tiresome, especially with its endless tangents and tirades (e.g., the screed against the M60). The second, shorter part is more action-oriented and mildly entertaining, but subpar compared to modern thrillers and dramas. The best part is when Henry Bowman blows away the rednecks raping the girl in the forest, but the parts about killing FBI agents and feeding them to the pigs just don't give me the same sense of justice being done.

 

[Run&Shoot]

Every couple of years I re-read Unintended Consequences, Boston's Gun Bible, Molon Labe, Patriots (original, I don't have the revised version yet) and Pierced by a Sword (Catholic oriented TEOTWAWKI). Just finished them all again last week.

The only web site that follows on and is updated daily is James Wesley Rawles' (Patriots) SurvivalBlog.

I hope John Ross does a sequel; that would sell like hotcakes!

 

[Oleg Volk]

Just read the first 40% of "Foreign Enemies" -- it is an amazingly good book, way better in style, realism and plot than the preceding two.

 

[SAWBONES]

Read it several times.
My front license plate frame indicates that I bought my car from Henry Bowman Motors in Solothurn, MO.
Every once in a while I get a look of "recognition" from passersby who see it, and who usually give me a "thumbs-up".

Still waiting for John Ross to come out with the sequel....

 

[bogie]

If you haven't read it, read it.

If you don't own a copy, buy one.

If you have a chance, nag John about the sequel.

Especially if you see him at Knob Creek.

I took his CCW class too - we thought he was just happy to see us.

 

[GLOCK19XDSC]

I've read UC two times. It provides a great reminder of how much fun it is to go out and shoot just for the heck of it any time you start to feel burnt out about going to the range. It will also motivate you to make purchases you otherwise wouldn't make, just to have something different to shoot and to add some variety. I never thought I would be a revolver guy, but I bought one because of UC and damn I love my snubbie!

Atlas Shrugged is also a great book. I couldn't stand the 50 page speech by John Galt though, so I skipped it.

 

[Tom Servo]

Oh, and if you do have a copy and you work in a gun shop, make sure it's not sitting in plain view when the BATFE folks come in to do a trace.

They didn't say much (beyond looking at it, then me, with great suspicion), but they don't have much love for it.

 

[bogie]

Eric, they really don't have to worry as long as they don't have ghetto nail jobs...

 

[Rachen]

I have a copy. And I also have copies of everything Mike Vanderboegh wrote. I think they are the most heroic pieces of literature ever written. My own style of writing changed slightly when I read the works of these great patriots.

They didn't say much (beyond looking at it, then me, with great suspicion), but they don't have much love for it.

Of course they don't have love for it.

 

[whiskeytangofoxtrot]

Man, wish I had a copy of Foreign Enemies already...

 

[A. Patriot]

Unintended Consequences also has a really good cover illustration.

 

[erictank]

I've read 'Unintended Consequences' numerous times (I really can't give you a number, but it's been lots of times - I re-read EVERYTHING, pretty much). Thought it was great, though I can see how the scenes describing sex (consensual or otherwise) might bother certain types, and other scenes would certainly throw the victim-disarmers into a tizzy. Of course, that latter bit is part of why it was written, I suppose... Great book, I'll probably take another pass through it once I get done with my current stack'o'stuff from the library.

I've also read 'Patriots', which was interesting but didn't grab me the way UC did. Still read it 3-4 times. Haven't read anything in the 'Enemies Foreign And Domestic' line (I understand there's more than one book, now?)

 

[Kentucky]

The best, and most important piece of fiction I have ever read. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

The sexual content was un-needed and it greatly detracted from the book. Not from the story itself, but because it makes it MUCH harder to recommend to certain people. The topic has been discussed on this forum several times before. The author himself has chimed in with a perfectly valid explanation for why it shouldnt bother people, or they should be able to get around being bothered. Unfortunately the question is not should someone be offended by it, but will they be offended by it. I am afraid that in this case the answer to the questions is yes, they will.

It is a shame that a book that should be the most important book in America is handicapped by something like that. My copy has been read by several people, and there are others who I would really love to have read it, but they would never forgive me just because of those parts.

 

[poor_richard]

I've read it two or three times. I liked all the details he got into on different guns. Could have done without the sex, but I understand the author's reasoning. I think that Kentucky (above) has a valid point that some people won't read it for that reason. Just because it is a realistic part of life, doesn't mean people want to be exposed to it when they are reading a novel.

 

[Technosavant]

Have it, read it.

Decent book, some parts could have been edited a bit, for some of the aforementioned reasons (gets going slowly, little unneeded sex that could put some off) and a few others (ending is unrealistic, overly detailed on the gun stuff- seemed like he was showing off his knowledge at times). I recommend it for those who want a good gunny read that will take a while.